Blood Relations Themes

Blood Relations Themes

These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community.
We are thankful of their contributions and encourage you to make your own.

Written by Noor Baban

Morality

The obvious morality connection goes with the murder of Mr. and Mrs. Borden, as to accepted morals, murder is wrong. However, the killing of Lizzie’s birds by Mr. Burden can be looked at too: was it fair for him to do that? The morals of the maid can also be questioned: should she have went along and covered for Lizzie?

Family

This play demonstrates the messiness of family. Emma was never there for Lizzie, Mr. Borden was scared of his own daughter, Lizzie had a jealousness for her sister and maybe killed her parents. Lizzie’s father also gets frustrated very easily with her. Lizzie may have been just trying to receive justice.

Truth

The actress asks Lizzie “Did you do it?” and tries her hardest to get any truth out of Lizzie by saying “did you” over and over again. She longs to get the truth out of Lizzie, but Lizzie refuses to respond. The entire play revolves around finding out who murdered Mr. and Mrs. Borden. The audience wants the truth. The play is also based around the truth that the actress forms. The true killer will still be unknown, but we are watching what the actress creates as the truth of her imagination.